School of Biomedical Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 29;7(1):9628. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-10182-8.
Collagen is widely used in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, with many examples of collagen-based biomaterials emerging in recent years. While there are numerous methods available for forming collagen scaffolds from isolated collagen, existing biomaterial processing techniques are unable to efficiently align collagen at the microstructural level, which is important for providing appropriate cell recognition and mechanical properties. Although some attention has shifted to development of fiber-based collagen biomaterials, existing techniques for producing and aligning collagen fibers are not appropriate for large-scale fiber manufacturing. Here, we report a novel biomaterial fabrication approach capable of efficiently generating collagen fibers of appropriate sizes using a viscous solution of dextran as a dissolvable template. We demonstrate that myoblasts readily attach and align along 2D collagen fiber networks created by this process. Furthermore, encapsulation of collagen fibers with myoblasts into non-cell-adherent hydrogels promotes aligned growth of cells and supports their differentiation. The ease-of-production and versatility of this technique will support future development of advanced in vitro tissue models and materials for regenerative medicine.
胶原蛋白广泛应用于组织工程和再生医学，近年来出现了许多基于胶原蛋白的生物材料。虽然有许多方法可从分离的胶原蛋白中形成胶原蛋白支架，但现有的生物材料加工技术无法在微观结构水平上有效地排列胶原蛋白，而这对于提供适当的细胞识别和机械性能很重要。尽管人们已经开始关注纤维状胶原蛋白生物材料的开发，但现有的胶原蛋白纤维的生产和排列技术并不适合大规模纤维制造。在这里，我们报告了一种新的生物材料制造方法，该方法能够使用葡聚糖的粘性溶液作为可溶解的模板有效地生成合适尺寸的胶原蛋白纤维。我们证明，成肌细胞可以很容易地附着并沿着通过该过程形成的二维胶原蛋白纤维网络排列。此外，将成肌细胞包裹在非细胞黏附性水凝胶中的胶原蛋白纤维促进了细胞的定向生长，并支持它们的分化。这种技术易于生产和多功能性将支持再生医学中先进的体外组织模型和材料的进一步发展。
